BUILT FOR OCTOBER? The Boston Red Sox Have Some BIG Questions to Answer

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The Red Sox are getting healthy at exactly the right time. But does this roster actually have what it takes to win in October?

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Hello and welcome to Locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast. I'm your host, Gabby Maljanian, and today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. College football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited, and this season, FanDuel is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Join all of the action at FanDuel.com. Hello, happy Friday. Welcome to the show. Congratulations on making it to the end of the week. Rough week overall for the Boston Red Sox and we talk a lot about this team and whether it's built for October. So I'm going to be giving it a little bit of an October test today. Bullpen sink or swim. I'm going to be talking a little bit about whether the bullpen just completely drowns the rest of the season or is able to hold its own and play a part in a potential playoff run. Plus Trevor Story and Roman Anthony are back. How much does that change this Red Sox lineup? So the biggest thing that... these two guys bring and the effect that they bring is that they are both very solid hitters. I mean, Trevor Story, even though we haven't always seen that side of him, has always had it in him to, over the course of his career, be a good hitter. And that's the biggest thing that we were hoping to see was, well, where's that version of Trevor Story? And it's been brought out. now so far in his time back with the Boston Red Sox since coming off of the injured list. And Roman Anthony in particular solves a big problem that the Red Sox have been having overall in the leadoff spot. Boston leadoff hitters during Roman's 101 game absence are hitting .224 with a .303 on-base percentage and .378 slugging, which is near the bottom of Major League Baseball. So the Red Sox have kind of had a revolving door of guys who have hit in the leadoff spot, which certainly does play a part in that. The more consistency you have, the more chance of success you'll have. And if you keep having different guys hitting in that spot, the chances are they may struggle. So... The fact that the Red Sox have resolved this leadoff hitter problem seemingly, obviously keeping guys healthy is going to be key. And assuming that a guy like Roman Anthony stays healthy moving forward, he will be that glue guy at the top of the lineup. The Red Sox won't keep taking him out of the leadoff spot. Chad Tracy has made it clear that that's where he's going to be and that he's there to stay.